When commenting on questions from new users, mostly asking for clarification or additional information, I often find that these users have replied, but forgot, or didn't know, to address me using @username. I will find some of those replies but only by accident, when browsing through questions. Askers will be waiting for feedback and never receive any. (At least not from me.)

I think this is a real problem.

Here is a list of real life examples. Obviously, this can only be the tip of the iceberg as those are the question I happen upon by accident later.

notifications about subsequent comments be sent to every person who has commented in a thread. ("Facebook style notification"). The vast majority of comment threads on SO is max. 2-3 comments long, I don't think it will clutter people's inboxes.

or: Newbies are shown a big fat info that if you want to reply to a previous comment, please include the user's name prefixed with a @ (I have not checked with a low-rep account whether this may already be the case, but from the number of "lost" replies I assume it isn't.)

If the comment system was made easier, say, spelling it out or giving them a quick pop action, then even the new users of the sites would be able to use it properly. @pek
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randomMar 20 '10 at 13:05

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The real issue is that this info does not reach general public. What's the point announcing it all in blog or on meta? Only a small percentage of SO users drop by here and there.
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user136634Mar 20 '10 at 13:05

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@Pekka: Without getting into whether it's a duplicate, it seems a much better implementation to solve the same problem, and I was looking for the link to it before I even read random's comment.
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GnomeMar 20 '10 at 13:06

I didn't really get 4798 until just now. Yes, that would be a good solution as well. Why are these things getting declined? And without explanation?
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PëkkaMar 20 '10 at 13:12

At least a hint pop-up really should be done. I agree with @Developer Art that only a tiny fraction of SO users actually reads the blog.
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PëkkaMar 20 '10 at 13:13

I'm not against this, per se, but it's becoming more and more like a discussion site. This means that when you comment on a post, you are notified of any other comments made on that post, whether they were aimed at you or not.

In theory it sounds nice, but I'm worried about being swamped by notifications I don't really care about, and it's going to be harder to read the notification page because the comments won't be in context - you'll almost always have to view the page.

At least right now I know that the notifications that show up on /recent are in direct response to a post or comment I made, and I can usually understand it and decided whether to respond without having to visit the page where it's posted. Even if I don't recall the context, I know it was to me or about my post, and so it's worth revisiting.